


It's a Silver Throat, Not a Silver Tongue

by remi_wolf



Series: Travel Logs and Memoirs of Remo Long Legs [3]
Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Deeply personal conversations, Gen, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:47:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22563481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remi_wolf/pseuds/remi_wolf
Summary: The third episode of Remo Long Legs' travel adventures with the Mechanisms. Where: he meets Brian, he tries to reassure some way-ward nymphs that the City totally isn't burning (what are you talking about? The Acheron's fine.....), and he meets Ashes and promptly freaks the fuck out that Hades is on the ship that has somehow managed to allow him to escape the Acheron. Luckily, Ashes is far more chill than might otherwise be expected, and a deeply personal conversation attempts to happen.
Series: Travel Logs and Memoirs of Remo Long Legs [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1608139
Kudos: 16
Collections: Beguilements and Distractions, The Stowaways





	It's a Silver Throat, Not a Silver Tongue

“Remo! Just the bastard I wanted to see.”

Remo frowned, looking up from the computer terminal that Ivy and Nastya had so kindly set up so that they could  _ attempt  _ to get caught up on the state of the universe outside of the City. Of course, that was something that would probably be impossible, and so Remo had ended up with some bizarre blend of obscure history and barely-comprehensible mechanical schematics for machines across the universe, or at least the  parts of the  universe they had  decided were the most important for Remo to know about . 

“I’m busy. Fuck off.”

“Brian’s asking for you.”

Remo sighed softly, rubbing idly at their throat before standing up.  Of course it would be Brian, or at least Jonny would say that it would be Brian. It seemed like he was one of the...nicer ones, if that was possible.  “What’s he want?”

Jonny sighed, rolling his eyes before shrugging. “I think it’s something about needing a new face to talk with the authorities, and you’re the best choice for it right now.”

Remo’s eyes just narrowed for a moment before shrugging and making their way towards the bridge, where they had vaguely picked up that Brian tended to stick around. They had yet to settle in and properly meet everyone, and especially Brian, seeing as how Brian was still carefully helping to pilot the Aurora through the outer rings of the system so they could actually get to another one before the end of the millennium. Nastya and Ivy both seemed to be remarkably friendly, though.

“You know we won’t hurt you if you talk. You don’t need to just keep being some sort of creepy fucking kid.”

“Last I checked, you shot me because you were bored.”

“Are you still holding that against me?”

Remo sighed, rolling their eyes before shaking their head, glancing back at Jonny, just watching them for a moment. He watched them in return, and as he opened his mouth to say something, Remo took a few steps towards the handrail. After stepping onto it--those extra six inches  of metallic legs  were rather useful for something, after all--they pulled their body up, onto the walkway above. As Jonny started shouting about how it was a  _ joke _ , why couldn’t they understand that it was a bit of  _ fun _ , Remo pulled their body up another two levels, and then jumped across the gap before disappearing into a side hallway. Jonny was loud, abrasive, and annoying, and honestly, Remo didn’t particularly want to get shot again. Give it a few days. 

Thirty minutes later, one dead-end (luckily, metaphorical) met, and another sixteen ladders climbed, and Remo pulled themselves up and into the bridge, looking around before their eyes fell on the man that was seemingly hiding from the computer screen next to the piloting panel. Just as they took a few steps to ask what the matter was, the screen lit up and a pair of near-by speakers crackled to life. 

“Oh, thank the Olympians, we were wondering if the ship was abandoned yet or not.”

Remo shot a glare at the mechanical man--Brian, right, this was Brian, had to be, considering they remembered him ripping their lungs out, and Jonny mentioned Brian did that \-- before he shook his head quickly and nodded towards the screen, where there was the dolled-up face of a Nymph on the other side. Remo closed their eyes, taking a deep breath before walking over to the screen and sliding the chair over to get better positioned for this. They didn’t talk. Everyone knew this. But here they were, sitting in front of a screen and forcing a tight smile onto their face. 

“No, the ship’s not abandoned. What seems to be the issue?” 

This was stupid. Remo had no idea what was going on, but apparently they were supposed to talk? Or something like that.  Maybe just distract them until the ship was far enough out of range that they couldn’t continue talking?

“Our ship just shut down. It’s not wanting to connect to the Acheron at all, and even the Somnambulist is just slumped over. Can you help us? Do you know what happened to the City?”

The tight smile faded slightly, or turned slightly further into a sneer and Remo found themselves shaking their head. “I don’t know what happened. We left, and we haven’t had any issues .  Perhaps your Acheron system’s in its shutdown mode for what’s supposed to be a night cycle. The ferrymen have been mentioning pushing that update through to help preserve processing power for as long as possible. Give it twelve hours and the automatic systems should help you continue towards the City. If your Acheron system isn’t functioning then, well.” Remo frowned before shrugging. “I don’t know what to say. Maybe you drifted too far from the City.”

It was clear that the nymphs didn’t particularly care for that thought, but Remo didn’t know exactly what to do about that. They were air-heads anyways, probably well after the point in which they needed their amber Lotus, and not wanting to accept that answer. Remo sighed, rubbing his temples before finally shrugging. 

“Look. Keep piloting towards the City. The automated ships should pick you up, or the Eirens, at least. I can’t imagine that there’s a problem at all. The Acheron provides for us and keeps us safe, and we’ll all join when we’re dead to help the future generations,” Remo said, a small, wry smile pulling the corners of their lips up before someone reached over them and flipped a switch. 

“Good talking there. You really bought the propaganda, didn’t you?”

Remo jumped as they heard the voice, nearly falling to the floor as they saw the owner of the voice, just barely recognizing them from some of the paintings on the sides of walls up and down the miles of levels to the City, usually standing alongside the other Olympians. “Hades. I. You’re here?” A strange panic wanted to crawl up Remo’s throat, and they could hear the mechanisms starting to whir as they tried to debate whether or not it was worth even trying to run when they knew that there was only so much space on the ship, even if it was, admittedly, a very large ship. 

“Of course I’m here. I’m the quartermaster.” 

Just as Remo nearly bolted out of their skin, they offered a hand to him ,  seemingly to help him stand up from where he was on the ground. He looked at their hand for a moment, trying to figure out whether this was a trap somehow, or if it was actually honestly intended for him. 

“Look, I’m not going to stand here forever. We need to talk. Brian wants to say something, so he’ll speak first, and then we’re going to get something to drink and eat and such. Unless you’d like to continue to be scared stiff of me for the next few centuries.”

Remo looked at Hades and the hand still offered to them before finally taking it, letting them help him to his feet. He stumbled only slightly before looking at the pilot that had finally taken a few steps towards the two of them now that the comm link had been turned off. “You...had something to say? Jonny mentioned it, and now...them,” he said, nodding towards Hades. 

Brian nodded, offering a hand to them, which Remo very carefully took, frowning slightly at the cool metal before realizing that the figure was entirely metallic. He couldn’t remember seeing anything like him, and he hadn’t immediately realized that earlier on, when he had first seen him. “Yes. I wanted to apologize. I probably should have made sure that you were entirely unconscious before Raphaella started. I’m sure that will probably haunt your nightmares for quite some time, and I know that you probably won’t forgive me, but I wanted to apologize for it.”

Remo frowned slightly as he looked at Brian, their eyes narrowing as they took in his appearance, not entirely able to tell an expression from him, and so were unable to tell if he was being at all honest or just trying to rub it in and play some sort of joke. “It’s fine. I...think I’m getting the impression that morals here tend to be...looser.”

Brian’s eyes widened, and he laughed softly before shaking his head. “No, at least, not mine. My morals are very strict. It just depends upon the switch,” he said, not illuminating anything, and Remo opened his mouth to speak before Hades pulled him away. 

“Thank you, Brian. Now pilot the fucking ship. I’ll try to get our newest stowaway briefed, since Jonny did a fucking stupid job with it.”

“You can’t blame him, really.”

“I can, and I will,” Hades said before pushing Remo through a doorway and along a narrow corridor. Remo couldn’t entirely decide whether or not it had been an awful decision to trust the Olympian (were they an Olympian?) , but he knew that Hades was fair, if only a touch strict. At least Persephone didn’t seem to be around, whether or not that urban legend was true or not. 

They ended up walking through a few different corridors before Hades opened up a door and nudged Remo inside. Remo glanced at them before ducking their head and walking through the door, ending up in a slightly comfortable, if sparsely furnished, sitting room. Hades closed the door behind them before sighing and resting against it for a moment. There was an uncomfortable moment as Remo looked at them, shifting slightly and adjusting the hem of his shirt, trying not to end up too presumptuous and sit, or stand, or even speak, and so he just had frown pulling at his face as he waited for Hades to say something, or do something, or just make it clear as to why the hell he was even here in the first place. After the silence stretched into something agonizing more uncomfortable, Hades waved to the table sitting near the center of the room. 

“Sit down. Gods, Jonny’s right, you are a creepy fucking kid.”

“I’m not a kid.”

Hades laughed softly at that, their voice tired and Remo had the sudden realization that they were vastly older than their appearance might suggest. 

“Everyone’s a kid for us. Sit down, seriously.”

Remo finally nodded before walking over to the table, sitting down and running a hand through his too-long hair. He had an appointment to get that cut. Six months he had been saving the credits to get it properly done and colored, too. Dark blue, like the small bits of sky that are sometimes visible when he had climbed too high up the towers and levels of the city. “You said you wanted to talk to me.”

“Yeah, I did. Give me a moment.”

Remo nodded, sighing softly before settling into the chair and closing their eyes. The ship felt like it was slowing down for the first time since they could remember, everything getting vaguely floaty, though not enough yet to  be entirely noticeable yet. He’d have to get used to the lack of gravity, apparently. That would be quite the experience. 

“How do you take your Lotus?”

“Lotus?” Remo frowned, looking up finally before seeing two glasses, a narrow green bottle, and then a few small, golden cubes that Remo instantly recognized. “I’ve not taken it before. Too expensive, or too useful to sell off to others instead.” He had thought about it, and his brother certainly had, especially towards the end, when he was trying to fluff himself up and make himself look more important than the runt pup that he was. 

Hades hummed for a moment before nodding, quietly setting the two glasses in front of them, settling slotted spoons on them, and then a cube of the Lotus as well. “Well, we’ll both partake, then. Last Lotus of the universe, probably. I’ve yet to come across two planets that manage to make the same drugs. Songs, sure, and alcohol, but the drugs are always different,” they said before pouring the deep green liquid from the bottle over the Lotus cubes, letting them melt into the waiting glass below. 

Remo watched the cubes, and the liquid below, not saying anything. What could you even say to someone like Hades? The person that had lorded over the Acheron for generations, long enough that Remo hadn’t heard of anyone that had ever lived without it being an overbearing presence in their life. And here he was, drinking Lotus and sitting three days away from the City. 

“You think you know who I am, correct?” Hades asked once they had finished pouring both drinks, though they didn’t pass one over to Remo quite yet, both setting on either side of their body. Remo wasn’t particularly insulted by that, but he was certainly wondering why they decided to test him and hide it, rather than just make it obvious. They didn’t need to pretend to be friends, though it seemed like that was almost what they wanted to do. 

“Hades, one of the oldest Olympians. You run the Acheron. You have a hunting pack with three nasty bastards at the head of it, along with an army of ferrymen, headed by Thanatos and Charon. You also operate Tartarus, though people don’t like to acknowledge that quite as much, as most people on the streets say that Persephone’s the one that really runs that, but I don’t buy it.” Remo sighed as he finished listing off the most pertinent information, and he sighed as he looked at Hades, shrugging. “What are you looking for in particular? I never had the pleasure of being able to meet anyone anywhere near your station, unless you count Teiresias, which I don’t. 

Hades nodded slowly, sipping at their Lotus before passing the other glass to Remo, who eyed it warily, not sipping at it quite yet, not sure if he wanted to let himself be in that position quite yet. “Good. And you are most likely outside of the range of even the most capable of Eirenes. So. How much does it cost to escape the Acheron? You seem like you know enough that you’d know the cost of that.”

Remo’s eyes snapped up to Hades’, widening as he shook his head, standing up, just barely keeping the table from tipping and the glasses from tipping over, losing them the last of the Lotus in the universe. Or, really, the last of the Lotus that mattered. “My Laird, I didn’t--”

“I asked for a price. I didn’t ask for grovelling. I’ve never cared for that.”

Remo looked at them for a moment longer before sitting back down. When Hades just looked at them, keeping their eyes on him even as they sipped at the Lotus, he glanced down, looking at the golden-green drug in the glass in front of him. “It depends upon the quality of the processor after the point of expiration. Anything from six thousand credits to rumors of more than six million, though I wouldn’t know in particular. I’ve never had to directly deal with the processors.”

“Unfortunately you’re wrong.”

Remo froze, not looking up at them as they tried to ignore the cold clutch of panic at the simple, clipped words. Was he going to be killed again for getting the question wrong? The idea that he couldn’t be killed didn’t even cross his mind, not as he sat before one of the most terrifying Olympians. Arguably, and one opinion that Remo would certainly stand by, the most terrifying beyond even Zeus or Athena. 

“It costs you everything. Not just credits. What’s your number?”

“Ar-three-zero-six-four-nine-em-zero,” Remo said, the familiar string of numbers and letters falling off of their tongue. It felt strange only finally speak them for the first time after days without having said them, even if he had only been awake for a couple of them. Normally he would have rattled them off a few times, or had them read off in return after trying to pull out credits from an empty account.

“The year code as well?” Hades didn’t sound annoyed. If anything, they just sounded somewhat bored by it all, and Remo couldn’t help but sigh as they thought over it. 

“No one pays attention to the year code. I don’t understand why you’re wanting my number and everything? Just read it off if you’re that interested.”

“I want the full number from your lips.”

Remo frowned, his jaw tightening for a moment before he sighed and closed his eyes. “Two dash three two nine dash one three zero five dash ar three zero six four nine em zero.” The full thread, from the iteration of the Acheron, to the year, to the day and month that they were born, to the specific number that they were given for the day. It was stupid, and people only usually referred to the last portion of the number, unless there was a particular need for their date of birth as well. Remo looked at Hades for a moment before sighing and sipping at the Lotus-drenched glass, vaguely sipping at it and the cool euphoria that it brought.  The sensation was vaguely uncomfortable, mostly because he had never let himself relax in such a way before, but after a second sip, they couldn’t help the way it gripped him.

“Most of the numbers surrounding you are in the Acheron already. The one right next to yours. En nine. Their circuitry seemed to be particularly traumatized by the time it entered into the system. Ultimately, we had to relegate it to basic Tartarus tasks in the prison cells, to make some use of the way it kept screaming for its brother. And that was after scraping it up from the walkway it had been smeared across.”

The glass in Remo’s hand nearly cracked with the pressure and the way his hand squeezed tightly at the mention of that...number. Well, not the number. The brain and the person that once had made use of it.  Hades cracked open an eye, looking at the glass and the look on his face before huffing a half-laugh.

“I take it you knew them?”

“Romulo. My twin brother. Died in a border dispute with another pack of dogs .  Few years ago now,” Remo murmured, trying not to sound too bitter about it, because that was life, and honestly, he was shocked that his brother had lasted so long, or either of them. It had been a long time, too, at least compared to the minutiae of surviving in the City without any protection behind you. 

Hades nodded, leaning forwards and sipping at their Lotus, tapping at the metal surface of the table before frowning. “If I remember correctly, Romulo’s brain was nearly entirely destroyed. Do you remember what happened with that?”

While the Lotus rather encouraged a relaxed euphoria, there was only so much that could fight against the pain of losing family, but Remo had been rather practiced in hiding his pain and shoving it in a closet in his mind. This would be nothing. “I don’t see why you care.”

“I’m curious.”

“Don’t you know all of this already?”

Hades sighed before shrugging. “I might have access to the ship’s version of the Acheron records that I uploaded for Ivy before we left. And I might have run some searches for you already. But you’re here with us for two and a half centuries, if our math is right and we don’t encounter any problems or peculiarities. So I want you to relate what exactly happened to your brother and who your brother was before you forget. Because we always forget.”

Remo tapped the side of the glass, thinking over the prospect of a lifetime more than eight times longer than the years he had already lived, assuming it ended even there. From what Hades said, he doubted it would simply end at that point. It would...keep going. And going. Like a comet, travelling through the sky. 

“Maybe later. Maybe when you’ve earned that story.” Remo sipped at the Lotus, taking a larger drink than perhaps strictly necessary, but the euphoric emptiness that it dragged out of his soul was necessary.

Once the glass was set down once more, Hades quietly started describing what had happened to Romulo after his death, words clinical and detached, though the white-knuckle grip on their glass of Lotus implied something different. Still, Hades didn’t spare any details. Not in the way they collected his brain, not in the way it was reconstituted and destroyed the system it was plugged into with lingering screams, not in describing the way they then installed it into the deepest Tartarus pits that just needed something to manage simple tasks that couldn’t be done improperly. Torture, really. By the end of it, Remo felt too scraped and hollowed out to make much of it. Later, he’d think about it and wonder what could have been the reason for such a reaction. As it was, they had made it through nearly half of their glass of Lotus. 

“So. What’s your story?” Remo finally asked as he looked over Hades, though at some point during the last thirty minutes he had started to suspect that Hades wasn’t even their real name, or, rather, the name that they usually preferred. 

“You don’t want my story, kid.” Hades laughed softly, tipping the last of their glass back before filling it with just the deep green alcohol, finishing the bottle with that final glass. 

Remo hummed softly as he looked at Hades before shaking his head. “No. I think I do want your story. At least what you’re doing here, why you were in the City. Something. I’m…” He sighed, looking down at the glass before shrugging. “I have lost everything I have ever known, and from how you and the others are talking, it’s like I’ll both never get back there, and see far more than would ever be proper for someone who’s not an Olympian.”

“You were always meant for something more.”

Remo rolled his eyes, leveling a glare at Hades, and they finally sighed, leaning back on two legs of the chair, looking up at the ceiling. 

“We landed there for parts and supplies. I stuck around because it seemed interesting. Raphaella found Athena and fell a bit in love. Jonny, Marius, and the Toy Soldier stuck around, too. Brian wanted some other fun, and Ivy and Nastya had been gone for ages at that point .  The Acheron system was mostly in place at that point. Version one, if you were curious as to what that two was at the start of everyone’s numbers. I bought it off of Daedalus. Hephaestus. Whichever it is now. I thought the Acheron was interesting, that’s all. Nothing particularly more than that. I don’t know what you’re looking for with that particular question. 

“For the other half. What I’m doing here, now...that’s a difficult question.” Hades sighed, pulling their hat off and setting it off to the side, scratching the back of their neck and finally shrugging. “This is home. It has been for longer than I’d care to admit. I’ll always come back to this ship, just like we all will, no matter how long we leave, though Nastya made a good show of leaving permanently.”

“So who are you here, then?”

Hades sighed before shrugging. “I’m myself. Ashes O’Reilly. Arsonist, quartermaster, gangster, and roaming immortal space pirate. That’s what I can offer you.”

That was enough for Remo, and he nodded. “Ashes, then. Ashes works. The rest…” Remo sighed, shrugging and finishing the last of his Lotus. It might be the drugs, or it might be the fact that he had done something he had never heard of before in escaping the Acheron, however... “The rest doesn’t matter.”


End file.
